Home on the Range (song)

Home on the Range is the state song of Kansas. Dr. Brewster Higley originally wrote the words in a poem called "My Western Home." He wrote it in the early 1870s in Smith County. The music was written by a friend of Higley's named Daniel Kelley. Higley's original words are similar to those of the song today but not identical. The song was picked up by settlers, cowboys, and others and spread across the nation in various forms. In the early 20th century, it was arranged by Texas composer David Guion (1892-1981) who is often credited as the composer. It was officially adopted as the state song of Kansas on June 30, 1947.

Lyrics

Oh, give me a home, where the buffalo roam,

Where the deer and the antelope play,

Where seldom is heard a discouraging word,

And the skies are not cloudy all day.

Chorus:

Home, home on the range,

Where the deer and the antelope play,

Where seldom is heard a discouraging word,

And the skies are not cloudy all day.

Where the air is so pure, the zephyrs so free,

The breezes so balmy and light,

That I would not exchange my home on the range

For all the cities so bright.

Chorus

Oh, give me a land where the bright diamond sand

Flows leisurely down the stream;

Where the graceful white swan goes gliding along

Like a maid in a heavenly dream.

Chorus

The red man was pressed from this part of the West,

He's likely no more to return

To the banks of Red River where seldom if ever

Their flickering campfires burn.

Chorus

How often at night when the heavens are bright

With the light of the glittering stars,

Have I stood here amazed and asked as I gazed

If their glory exceeds that of ours.

Chorus

Oh, I love these wild flowers in this dear land of ours;

The curlew I love to hear scream;

And I love the white rocks and the antelope flocks

That graze on the mountain-tops green.

Chorus

Then I would not exchange my home on the range,

Where the deer and the antelope play;

Where seldom is heard a discouraging word

And the skies are not cloudy all day.

Chorus.

Media

References

United States state songs

Gourt Home::Gourt :: Home on the Range (song)

Lyrics

Media

References